Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness so He could be alone with God. God knew the temptations were coming. God didn’t order the temptations or cause them; God just knew they would be there. Just before hand, God reminded Jesus of their relationship. God provided the Holy Spirit to strengthen Jesus.
In the wilderness of temptation, Jesus struggled to keep His ministry and purpose in focus. This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian Season that followers of Jesus Christ call Lent. As we move through this Lenten Season, the season of the 40 days leading up to Easter and the celebration or the Resurrection, we are called to keep our eyes and our focus on Jesus Christ. How do we do that? Worship is always a good place to start, especially worship where we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. At the Lord’s Table we are reminded who we are, and our relationship with God, and we are fed and filled with God’s grace.
There are other important ways to stay focused on the Cross as well. Self denial, prayer and Bible Study are so important. Self denial is an important Christian concept; it allows us to walk the same path Jesus walked. It allows us to feel some of what Jesus felt when He gave up everything for our sake. Over the ages people have given up all sorts of things like meat, sweets, chocolate, going to the movies and those kinds of things. Self denial is about making a sacrifice that makes a difference, focusing on the Cross and reminding ourselves what Christ gave up for us. I have listed a few things we might want to give up, not only during Lent, but give up permanently!
Give us complaining. Instead, “In everything give thanks.” Always focus on the positive!
Give up looking at other people’s worst attributes. Instead, concentrate on their best points. Give up gossip and speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. Give up your hatred of anyone or anything. Instead, learn the discipline of unconditional love. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Give up your worries and anxieties. They are too heavy for you to carry anyway. Instead, trust God with them. Live today and let God’s grace be sufficient. Give up TV one evening a week. Instead, visit someone who is lonely or sick. Give up buying anything but essentials for yourself. Instead, give the money to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet basic needs. We are called to be stewards of God’s riches, not consumers. Give up prejudice, bigotry and judging others by appearances. Instead, learn to give up yourself to God. There is only one who has the right to judge, Jesus Christ.
We know that overcoming temptation makes us stronger and helps us keep our focus. Make a commitment this week to pray, read your Bible and attend worship. The whole point of the Lenten Season is to keep our lives and our hearts focused on Jesus Christ and His amazing grace and unconditional love for everyone!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Catch of the Day
Jesus pulled in the “Catch of the Day” when he hauled in Peter, James, John and Andrew that day by the Sea of Galilee. It might not have been his biggest catch, but it certainly was the “Catch of the Day.” Each of these disciples would have their own times when they too, would make a “Catch of the Day” I believe that, “If you can dream it, you can do it!” Israel dreamed of the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus showed up, many of them thought it was too good to be true and would not accept Jesus for who He was. But there were those like Peter, James, John and Andrew, who knew immediately and dropped everything to follow. The dream not only lived in them, but the dream had become alive in them and began to coalesce into a vision! What helped with that dream coalescing into a vision was the vision which Jesus had. Jesus had a vision of the world where there was no more guilt or sin. Jesus had a vision where the virtues of honesty, truthfulness, trust and care prevailed. A world where the love of God and the love for God, and the love for our neighbors rules everything we do!
Jesus called this world the “Kingdom of God.” God’s Kingdom is not of power and might. God’s Kingdom does not have any physical borders, but is a Kingdom that lives in the heart. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom with a King who moves us to do what is right, simply because we know it is right. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom where the King moves us to love one another because we have experienced God’s love for us. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom filled with people whose purpose is to honor God with their lives. That is the vision Jesus had and the vision that captured Peter, James, John and Andrew. Their Dream had coalesced into a vision and that vision became their mission! A mission that Jesus confirmed at His ascension, Jesus told them “Go, into all the world making disciples of every nation, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit.” That was their mission. That is what their followers did. That is what the followers of the followers did all the way down to us! That is what we are called to do, as well. When have the dream and the vision, the mission is not difficult at all, because we carry such “Good News!”
Pastor Jim Robinson
Mesquite United Methodist Church
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
Jesus called this world the “Kingdom of God.” God’s Kingdom is not of power and might. God’s Kingdom does not have any physical borders, but is a Kingdom that lives in the heart. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom with a King who moves us to do what is right, simply because we know it is right. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom where the King moves us to love one another because we have experienced God’s love for us. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom filled with people whose purpose is to honor God with their lives. That is the vision Jesus had and the vision that captured Peter, James, John and Andrew. Their Dream had coalesced into a vision and that vision became their mission! A mission that Jesus confirmed at His ascension, Jesus told them “Go, into all the world making disciples of every nation, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit.” That was their mission. That is what their followers did. That is what the followers of the followers did all the way down to us! That is what we are called to do, as well. When have the dream and the vision, the mission is not difficult at all, because we carry such “Good News!”
Pastor Jim Robinson
Mesquite United Methodist Church
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Black History Month
Spotlight on: Booker T. Washington
Writer, black leader, educator: Born Booker Taliaferro Washington on April 5, 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia. The son of a white slave owner and a black slave, Washington was freed after emancipation (1865) and worked as a houseboy where he learned to read and write. He studied to be a teacher at Hampton Institute, Virginia, and eventually became a writer and speaker on black issues and struggles. In 1881, Washington was appointed principal of the newly opened Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, and built it up into a major center of black education. By cooperating with white people and enlisting the support of wealthy philanthropists, he helped raise funds to establish and operate hundreds of small community schools and institutions of higher education for blacks. Though he was strongly criticized by W. E. B. Du Bois and his policies were repudiated by the civil rights movement, Washington remains the foremost black leader of the late 1800s. He received national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895 and won white support through his acceptance of the separation of blacks and whites. His autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read.
Visit Mesquite United Methodist home page
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
Writer, black leader, educator: Born Booker Taliaferro Washington on April 5, 1856 in Franklin County, Virginia. The son of a white slave owner and a black slave, Washington was freed after emancipation (1865) and worked as a houseboy where he learned to read and write. He studied to be a teacher at Hampton Institute, Virginia, and eventually became a writer and speaker on black issues and struggles. In 1881, Washington was appointed principal of the newly opened Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, and built it up into a major center of black education. By cooperating with white people and enlisting the support of wealthy philanthropists, he helped raise funds to establish and operate hundreds of small community schools and institutions of higher education for blacks. Though he was strongly criticized by W. E. B. Du Bois and his policies were repudiated by the civil rights movement, Washington remains the foremost black leader of the late 1800s. He received national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895 and won white support through his acceptance of the separation of blacks and whites. His autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read.
Visit Mesquite United Methodist home page
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
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